The Story Behind the California Mansion In That LCD Soundsystem Video That James Murphy Just Posted

First Vampire Weekend make an ostensibly California-themed record, and now it seems clear that the primary mythology of the new and upcoming LCD Soundsystem record will focus heavily on the awesome California mansion in which it was recorded. New York, rep for your own! Anyway, for the record, the place in the above video used to be owned by Rick Rubin, and has a healthy legend that goes way back before James Murphy. To wit:

There were many stories about the house. The Mansion was haunted, apparently. The ghost, in his former career as sentient human being, may or may not have been homosexual. Genesis P-Orridge threw himself off one of the balconies, maybe, to finance the recording of some record no one could quite remember. Harry Houdini lived here, or it might have been his wife, and a series of tunnels connected Houdini's one mansion to his other mansion, which we were assured was somewhere in the distance.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded Blood Sugar Sex Magik at The Mansion, and left the drummer's carpet up in the bell tower, accessible only with strong arms and a stomach for odd insects. In the first floor bathroom, underneath the sink, were old surfing magazines that may have been flipped through by the members of the Maroon 5 as they sat on a toilet that was approximately four inches too close to the ground.

That's SOTC pal and Resident Advisor writer Nick Sylvester, who joined Murphy's posse out in LA last summer in an all-white outfit that we can confidently report has been reprised several times in the six or eight months since. Love the confusing cult aspect of this whole enterprise, as in:

The Friday night before I left, Murphy had a DJ set at Avalon, a large club in downtown LA. The night was sponsored by the beverage company Bacardi, and on the stage was a large backdrop made to resemble an old boombox. A stretch limousine picked up about thirteen of us, all dressed in all-white, and drove us to the club.

It goes on from there. Tourdates are up at the LCD site, though none yet for New York. Murphy has an answer for that though: "we're going on tour for a LONG TIME, in a lot of places, around the planet, for longer in support of this one record than the beatles ever toured in total, and we'll likely be close to you at some point. i hope that clears some of that up?"